Bottles containing water are normally transported to a location having a water cooler, and are stored until needed. When replacement is necessary, a seal on the bottle cap of the water bottle is removed and the water bottle is inverted and placed on the top section of the water cooler. Typically, water flows from the water bottle to a tank in the water cooler where the water is cooled. The water is dispensed from the tank through a spigot or similar device.
A water bottle cap is generally designed to prevent leakage of water from the water bottle during transportation, storage, and dispensing. Some bottle caps are even designed to prevent water from spilling onto the floor or other surface when an inverted, partially empty water bottle is removed from a water cooler. Unfortunately, currently available bottle caps are not suitable for use with water bottles containing water that is supersaturated with oxygen or other gases, or bottles containing fluids under pressure. Specifically, such bottle caps are not configured to help maintain the oxygen content of oxygenated water within a water bottle during the transportation and storage of the water bottle, and during the dispensing of the oxygenated water from the water bottle when mounted on a water cooler. The bottle caps are not capable of preventing leakage of oxygen from the water bottle, and cannot contain pressure above ambient levels within the water bottle.
It would, therefore, be highly desirable to provide a new and improved bottle cap for a water bottle containing oxygenated water, wherein the bottle cap is capable of preventing leakage of oxygen and pressure from the water bottle during transportation and storage of the water bottle, and wherein the bottle cap helps to maintain the oxygen level of the oxygenated water within the water bottle throughout the entire usage cycle of the water bottle.
The present invention also relates to a new and improved water cooler for dispensing oxygen enriched water. Oxygen enriched drinking water has an enhanced taste appeal and offers the health and fitness conscious consumer an alternative and supplemental source of oxygen that is absorbed through the stomach. The term drinking water is intended to include, without limitation, spring water, filtered water, or water treated by the reverse osmosis process.
The dissolved oxygen content of natural pure spring water ranges from between about 5 mg/liter to 9 mg/liter depending on the source of the water, purification and processing techniques applied prior to bottling, and other factors. The water can be supersaturated with oxygen by injecting molecular oxygen into a water pipeline controlled at a pressure of 40-90 PSIG (pounds per square inch gage), or using other known methods. Using this technique, the dissolved oxygen level of the water can be increased to about 25-125 mg/liter. If bottled immediately and hermetically sealed, using the bottle cap of the present invention, in bulk glass bottles or other suitable containers, the oxygenated water will maintain the elevated dissolved oxygen level indefinitely.
Bulk water bottles typically are in the 3-5 gallon range. Upon opening a bulk water bottle containing water that is supersaturated with oxygen, and which includes a conventional bottle cap, and installing the water bottle on a standard water cooler, the dissolved oxygen in the water decreases to near the baseline level of about 5-9 mg/liter within about 3-5 days. Since the average time required to consume a 3-5 gallon bulk water bottle typically is in the 10-14 day range, the rapid decrease in dissolved oxygen prevents the commercial marketing of oxygen enriched drinking water in 3-5 gallon bulk bottles for use on standard water coolers.
It would, therefore, also be highly desirable to provide a new and improved water cooler for dispensing oxygen enriched water wherein the dissolved oxygen content of water in the water bottle installed on the water cooler is maintained at or about the original supersaturated level during the entire time oxygenated water is dispensed from the bottle by the water cooler, i.e., during the entire usage cycle of the water bottle.